Airborne 08.18.17

Accident Fatally Injured 81-Year-Old Aviator

The 81-year-old pilot of a Piper Comanche 250 which went down
in southern Indiana Monday had circled the globe in the same
airplane. Dr. Henry Schirmer Riley of Hanover, In. was fatally
injured in the crash. He was the only person on board.

Jim Pertle, who accompanied Riley on that flight, told
television station WLKY in Louisville, KY, that he and Riley had
conceived of the circumnavigation in 1986. They had already
completed multiple trans-Atlantic flights in the Comanche when they
decided to fly the rest of the way around the world.

The trip took 39 days.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. A
preliminary autopsy released Tuesday showed that the octogenarian
pilot had no medical condition that might have contributed to the
accident.